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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

JackBurton said:
Let's face it, we are lucky we won. We caught lightning in a bottle. How often does the non favourite win the NBA chamionship? It isn't like NHl at all . It's amazing we are the ones who did it.
At least him not going to Lakers keeps the NBA a little less predictable.
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I'll say it again - we were the #2 choice to win last year, and should have been considered that from the start. and the #2 team wins plenty of times.
 
MindzEye said:
Masai did the right thing

- We had received no guarantees from Kawhi that he would stay even if we made that trade
- The Westbrook contract is one of the worst superstar contracts in the league, for a guy who seems allergic to winning
- It would have crippled us going forward to take a shot with Kawhi-PG-Westbrook and scrubs.

If Masai does what I think he'll do, this year could be a little lean, but the turnaround will be quick. Back to being a legitimate ECF darkhorse by next year, and then buckets of cap space to make adds on top of that.
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Eh. It would have been worth the gamble imo.
 
My thoughts on this whole saga:

The NBA once again proved that it is not worthy of dedication by hardcore sports fans. I have no issues with Kwahi leaving for his hometown team in his free agency year; Afterall John Tavares did the same and I thought it was a sensible choice. I have no issues with how long it took Kwahi to make this decision. After all this is a life changing call. I have no problem with three teams pulling all stops to try to get him to sign. Afterall, that's what you do to attract a free agent. I have no problem with the Raps having to retool/rebuild as a result. Afterall, that's what happens when you lose a star, especially in this circumstances where you knew he could be a one-year rental.

What I do have a problem with: yet another star played the role of a GM to orchestrate a team to his linking; and yet again a star who was contractually obligated to play for his team forced his way out. Yet again.

This makes the NBA more intriguing for the short term as there are a number of good teams now (vs alternative of bushleague LeBron having his way of a stud trio). In the long term however...the issues persist. Players have too much power; contracts mean absolutely nothing; small market teams are always the little brother; and the league offices like all of that that way.

If you are a teenager with all the time in the world sure go ahead and overlook all that and be obsessed like most of us have at some point in our lives; if you are a working professional with kids to care for and mortgages to pay however, an NBA game is as good as going to watch a movie once in a while. Amazing to watch but sadly not worth obsessing over.
 
What I do have a problem with: yet another star played the role of a GM to orchestrate a team to his linking; and yet again a star who was contractually obligated to play for his team forced his way out. Yet again.
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Yeah, the "LeGM" era of NBA basketball is getting old.
 
zeke said:
I do it.
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I mean, I get it if Masai decided not to totally mortgage the future for 4 years of Kawhi and George, but I really don't think we even had the option. Kawhi first called KD to join up on the Clippers. Then turned to George when KD said no to do the same. I don't know how this offer of George to us really makes sense in the context of the bigger picture. Kawhi wanted to go to LAC. He didn't recruit these guys to become Raptors with him. And he wouldn't have needed them if he planned to stay on the Raps since we just mowed through the entire league and the offseason saw the East get weakened and GS lose its perennial favorites status.

Kawhi obviously wanted to leave. He didn't want to stay and repeat with a championship team. He wanted to create a new one for himself in LA. The Lakers weren't his top choice because he's apparently never had a soft spot for them and it's clearer than ever that he had no interest in playing in LeBron's shadow. He just ****ed those guys for fun in the process. I mean, AD gave up $4M out of his own pocket just to have Kawhi ultimately spit in their faces after an epic cocktease. He wanted the Clippers, and he pried George out to create his ideal scenario.

Not sure what would've happened if they refused to trade George though. Would he have sucked it up and gone to the Lakers and taken Green with him? Seems like the likelier scenario than him returning given what just went down. But at the same time the red marks against the Lakers would still be there, so I'm not sure. I guess I'd put it at 50/50 between the Raps and Lakers if LAC failed to pull off that trade.
 
Oh yeah. I went on a tangent trying to unravel the behind the scenes shit.

I wanted to end up saying that I get it that Masai didn't go along with the scheme, if he was even given the chance to, but I would have done it too, for the chance to see Kawhi and George mow through the east again and beat up LeBron in the finals.

Such a bummer that'll never get the chance to unfold.

But what might be in the offing is just as interesting. If Masai brings in a star player somehow without giving up any core pieces, I could see us finding our way to the finals again. And I could see it being a match up against the Clippers and Kawhi. Imagine the drama in that one.

And by the way, I'd love to land Iggy if it's Masai's plan to go for it again this year. I saw yesterday that Kawhi shoots 33% when Iggy is defending him, and 49% against everyone else. That seems about the most likely Kawhi stopper that we could find out there. And really, he was excellent in the finals against us. Didn't do much for GS to have him guard Kawhi in the end, but we still have an elite defensive team, so adding him now would make us even tougher to score against, which may be the key to winning again.

I sincerely hope Masai takes another run at it this year. Hope he's got his thinking cap on and making calls as we speak.
 
zeke said:
Make them all free agents every year. Let them mix and match at will.
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The opposite.

I've been wondering since last night, how is what these guys do not tampering and a violation of the league rules. Is it just management that can't solicit another player under contract, or are players prohibited too? I know Kawhi was a UFA and not acting under any team's authority, but I mean, ****, he basically acted as an agent of LAC in tampering with George and forcing his way out of the Thunder.

How do they not crack down on this shit as illegal?
 
CaptainBolduke said:
I'm not a massive basketball, but I think it's pretty awesome that the workers have just as much power as most of the owners. **** the owners I say.
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This weird attitude is all well and good if you’re just a fan of individual players.

Not so much if you cheer for any specific team.
 
CaptainBolduke said:
I'm not a massive basketball fan, but I think it's pretty awesome that the workers have just as much power as most of the owners. **** the owners I say.
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You're very edgy. That's a very edgy opinion. Have you considered writing a newsletter so the rest of the proletariat can rally around your views?
 
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